Innovative Startup ideas for Smart Entrepreneurs

What’s the importance of team work in building a business? What lessons do famous entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires have for me with respect to team building? Why do I need a business team? How do I build a business team? How do I impact the spirit of team work in my employees?

If the answer to any of the questions asked above interests you, then please read on as I share with you 37 quotes and business advice on team work and team building from successful entrepreneurs.

37 Quotes and Business Advice on Team Work and Team Building

1. “Mr. Morgan buys his partners, I grow my own.” – Andrew Carnegie

2. “Successful entrepreneurs may hate hierarchies and structures and try to destroy them. They may garner the disapproval of MBAs for their creativity and wildness. But they have antennae in their heads. When they walk down the street anywhere in the world, they have their antennae out, evaluating how what they see can relate back to what they are doing. It might be packaging, a word, a poem, or even something in a completely different business.” – Anita Roddick

3. “Do not primarily train men to work. Train them to serve willingly and intelligently.” – James Cash Penny

4. I’d rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent of my own efforts.” – J. Paul Getty

5. “If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them.” – Jack Welch

6. “I hire people brighter than me and I get out of their way.” – Lee Iacocca

7. “My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.” – Jack Welch

“People problems must sometimes be dealt with harshly. When you make an example of someone, make sure everyone knows what the lesson is. Punish one, teach a hundred.” – The Mafia Manager

“The most important ‘speed’ issue is often not technical but cultural. It’s convincing everyone that the company’s survival depends on everyone moving as fast as possible.” – Bill Gates

10. “The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important – and then get out of their way while they do it.” – Jack Welch

11. “My definition of an executive’s job is brief and straight to the point. It’s simply this: Getting things done through other people.” – James Cash Penny

12. “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” – James Cash Penny

“There will be times when you will have to be abrasive, even brutal to members of your staff. Don’t worry that your people will say bad things about you because of this. They already have. But in general, try to be pleasant and accommodating. Try to please the greatest number who work for you that you can; antagonize the fewest. Blow smoke.” – The Mafia Manager

14. “Bringing together the right information with the right people will dramatically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.” – Bill Gates

“The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area.” – Bill Gates

16. “Teams should be able to act with the same unity of purpose and focus as a well motivated individual.” – Bill Gates

17. “I like my job because it involves learning. I like being around smart people who are trying to figure out new things. I like the fact that if people really try, they can figure out how to invent things that actually have an impact.” – Bill Gates

18. “If you give people tools and they use their natural ability and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.”

19. “You’ve got to give great tools to small teams. Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive in terms of what they are doing.” – Bill Gates

20. “Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.”

21. “Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they are going to make mistakes.” – Henry Ross Perot

22. “We bring together the best ideas – turning the meetings of our top managers into intellectual orgies.” – Jack Welch

23. “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” – James Cash Penny

24. “The five separate fingers are five independent units. Close them and the fist multiplies strength. This is organization.” – James Cash Penny

25. “Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” – John D. Rockefeller

26. “I have run engineering since day one at Oracle, and I still run engineering. I hold meetings every week with the database team, the middle ware team, the applications team. I run engineering and I will do that until the board throws me out of there.” – Larry Ellison

27. “People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the company’s product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash

29. “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else formula.” – Richard Branson

30. “Individuals don’t win in business, teams do.” – Sam Walton

37 Quotes and Business Advice on Team Work and Team Building

31. We’re all working together; that’s the secret.” – Sam Walton

32. “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

33. “The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.” – Steve Jobs

34. “Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn’t perfect at predicting the future. Based on today’s stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down and things may be different tomorrow but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today.” – Steve Jobs

35. “I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” – Thomas Edison

36. “If I attack alone, I might turn out to be a wimp. But with a strong business team behind me, I am a force to contend with.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

37. “Go to the wolf, consider its ways and be wise. A wolf will never hunt alone; it hunts in packs because it knows the power of team work.” – Ajaero Tony Martins